Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad hit out at Muslim clerics in Malaysia for failing to condemn the killings by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) militants. – The Malaysian Insider pic, September 30, 2014.
Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad hit out at Muslim clerics in Malaysia for failing to condemn the killings by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) militants, adding that their silence could divide Muslims and plunge the country into violence.
"The Muslim clerics and scholars in the country have not firmly stated their stance on whether or not they believe this group's violent actions are a part of Islam's teachings.
"If this understanding spreads in this country, the divide among Muslims will be worse than it is now. It could reach a level of hostility and violence," wrote the former prime minister in a post on his blog, chedet.cc, today.
Dr Mahathir said there were clerics who were believed to have given their blessings to Malaysians to join the war in Syria to kill Shias.
But, he said the Quran clearly prohibited Muslims from killing one another, adding that the Sunni and Shia sects were considered Muslims as they worshipped the same God and acknowledged Muhammad as their prophet.
"There have been no efforts to study and debate their (Isis's) accusations that their enemies are infidels, despite the gravity of such an accusation.
"No fatwa (religious edict) has been made by a cleric who is without agenda or vested interests, one who only acts according to the Quran and authentic Hadith," wrote Dr Mahathir.
He urged the clerics to make a decision whether or not those who died in battle against other Muslims would go to heaven.
"Speak out on it because, given the Muslim youths' frustrations over how Muslim countries have done nothing to save Islam, it is so easy for them to take up the call (to join Isis) that would actually take them to hell, not heaven," said Dr Mahathir.
He added the public could not rule out the possibility that local Muslims would take up arms against one another in Malaysia.
"Remember a time when we are accusing one another of being infidels and using stolen weapons. Alhamdulillah, they failed.
"If the group was bigger and had been successful, others would have joined them," wrote Dr Mahathir.
Militants from Indonesia and Malaysia fighting in Syria have come together on common language and culture, forming their own military unit and prompting fears of the Isis's expansion in Southeast Asia, a Jakarta think tank warned last Friday.
The Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict said 22 members had formed the "Katibah Nusantara Lid Daulah Islamiyah" (Malay archipelago unit for the Islamic State) in Al-Shadadi, Syria, and could become the vanguard for a fighting force that would reach into Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
- TMI
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